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Definition 2024

belly_dance

belly dance

See also: belly-dance

English

Noun

belly dance ‎(plural belly dances)

A traditional form of dance from the Middle East, characterized by movements of the abdominal muscles.

Derived terms

Translations

form of dance

Arabic: رَقْص شَرْقِيّ m ‎(raqṣ šarqiyy) (oriental dance), رَقْص بَلَدِيّ m ‎(raqṣ baladiyy) (national dance)
Armenian: պորտապար (hy) ‎(portapar)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 肚皮舞 (zh) ‎(dùpíwǔ)
Czech: břišní tanec m
Dutch: buikdans (nl)
Esperanto: ventra danco
Finnish: vatsatanssi
French: danse du ventre (fr) f
German: Bauchtanz m, orientalischer Tanz m
Greek: χορός οριεντάλ m ‎(chorós orientál)
Hebrew: מחול מזרחי
Hungarian: hastánc (hu)
Indonesian: tari perut

Interlingua: dansa de ventre
Italian: danza del ventre f
Japanese: ベリーダンス ‎(berīdansu)
Macedonian: стомачен танц m ‎(stomačen tanc)
Norwegian:

Bokmål: magedans m, mavedans m

Nynorsk: magedans m
Persian: رقص عربی ‎(raqs 'arabi) (Arabic dance)
Polish: taniec brzucha (pl) m inan
Portuguese: dança do ventre (pt) f
Russian: та́нец живота́ (ru) m ‎(tánec životá), беллидэ́нс m ‎(bellidɛ́ns), беллида́нс (ru) m ‎(bellidáns)
Spanish: danza del vientre f
Swedish: magdans c
Turkish: göbek dansı (tr), oryantal (tr)
Volapük: bälidadanüd

Anagrams

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Etymology

A loan translation of French danse du ventre. First attested in English in the 1890s.

OED has as earliest attestation an explicit gloss of 1899, "The danse du ventre (literally, "belly-dance") is of Turkish origin" (in Bohemian Paris of to-day), but there are slightly earlier occurrences, in In the land of the lion and sun; or, Modern Persia (1891) of Persian dance; in Frank Leslie's popular monthly (vol. 36, 1893) "These women dance, not with their feet and arms but with their stomach. Hence their abdominal contortions are styled the 'belly dance.'"; and in Untrodden fields of anthropology (1898) in reference to African (Wolof and Landoma (Baga)) dance.